Grassroots skepticism

Imagine you’re moving to a new city, and you want to see what skeptic-themed events or groups are available. Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was one central place you could go, plug in the destination, and get a list of skeptical stuff to do?

Or, say you’re going to be traveling on business, and you want to find some evening entertainment that’s a little more fulfilling than getting drunk at the airport bar watching TV in your hotel room. Wouldn’t it be great if you could pull up a website and see what skeptical events were going on in that city, or put out a call for an impromptu meetup?

Maybe you live in Skunkbutt, South Dakota, and your only option is to start your own skeptics group. Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a place you could read about a variety of group models, topics and events that have worked for other groups?

Finally, what if your group needs advice about a program you’re planning, or help finding a speaker? Wouldn’t it be fantastic to be able to discuss the details with other skeptical organizy-types?

The group is called Grassroots Skeptics, and it’s trying to make it easier for fellow skeptics to meet and network. It sounds like a great idea, although, being a die-hard University of Michigan alumnus, it does irk me that it took people from Columbus, OH and and the Central Ohioans for Rational Inquiry to get something like this started…

If it makes you feel any better, Chelsea and I are both from Philadelphia. Our designer Jen Myers is from Ohio, and she’s graciously donated temporary hosting along with an awesome WordPress design, but the rest of the work is happening in Philly.

Mock all you must, but know that Skunkbutt has a vibrant community of freethinkers and rabble-rousers that dates back to the late 19th century when we were founded by decorated military hero and noted atheist Commodore Ambrose J. Piecrust. Historic Skunkbutt is the jewel of knowledge in South Dakota’s plaid hunting cap.

One thing I’d love to have here in Copenhagen, Denmark, was a real skeptic community, but I haven’t come across any yet. There are a couple of atheist groups, but at least one of them is lead by a global warming denier/transhumanist, so it’s not like those are bastions of skepticism.

No, not craigslist. Craigslist is too busy, especially in your larger cities and states. I’m in Phoenix, AZ. We don’t really have much of a skeptical community in Phoenix or in Arizona as a whole. But Phoenix’s craigslist is chock-full of crap. The thought of having to check craigslist for skeptic-related stuff makes me want to cringe.

Kismet, there is nothing wrong with transhumanism as such, like there is nothing wrong with e.g. libertarianism as such.

The problem is that transhumanism is a fringe movement which draws in cranks of all sorts. The crank-to-sane ratio is quite high (with the cranks outnumbering the sane), and people who publicly declare themselves to belong to the movement tend to fall into the crank group (and this guy definitely do – talking about freezing down peoples’ heads, and of using transhumanism as a substitute for religion among the general public)